Me and my friends at work have a lot of downtime (emergency services) and use Plex as our source for entertainment. This has been working quite well for a long time, but recently the work wifi seems to be blocking the port Plex uses, or at least doesn't allow connections of this sort. [Is there a way to determine the exact cause of my issue?]
FYI, we are all able to connect to our Plex Servers when not using the work wifi, and we are all "Fully accessible outside your network" (green) and are running the most up to date versions of PMS (v.1.2.4.2949). This has also been the issue with the last 2 versions of PMS that have been released (we hoped updates to the PMS might somehow fix the issue).
We're all running Windows 10 (or 7) for both server side and client side (using Plex web client, also windows, iOS & android apps too).
Setting any other port besides 32400 in my PMS settings always makes me unreachable outside my network (and I did port forward each attempt in my router). [Seems like Plex doesn't like any other port besides 32400?]
In my effort to find a solution, and make us all able to connect to our PMS through the work wifi, I have read this thread on reddit: [url=https://www.reddit.com/r/PleX/comments/3nz8bs/want_to_watch_plex_at_work_during_lunch_but_it_is/]Want to watch Plex at work during lunch, but it is blocked. Any workarounds? [/url]. If you scroll to the bottom, you'll see a post by "dasshark_work" that says:
"ALTERNATE OPTION: Connect to your server via SSH and create an SSH Tunnel to the 32400 port on your local machine to the servers 32400 port. Then go to http://localhost:32400/web/"
Now this sounds like a real probable solution to me, but I cannot seem to figure it out. I've downloaded freeSSHd and I have PuTTY (I've used PuTTY before for communication with my raspberry pi's, so I'm half familiar with that program). [This seems kinda like we're creating our own VPN?]
My understanding is I need to get my PMS to establish a SSH tunnel within my computer at home (using freeSSHd) that will then broadcast to the internet. I then have to establish a link on my client side using PuTTY (while on my work wifi) to allow a connection to my PMS via the SSH tunnel? Is that kinda right? This is way over my head, I'll admit, but I feel with some direction I'll be able to figure this out. And I know others in the world suffer our same dilemma.
Here are some screenshots of freeSSHd and PuTTY:
i168.photobucket.com/albums/u191/NewCougar/SSH-tunnel-freesshd.jpg
i168.photobucket.com/albums/u191/NewCougar/SSH-tunnel-putty.jpg
If anyone can walk me through this, I'll be so grateful. Thanks in advance for taking the time to read this. I really wouldn't be looking for help unless I really couldn't find the answer myself.